I'm going travelling in September and October, spending one month
in East Java and one in the US. The purpose of my trip is, as I
wrote on the visa application, tourism, but I don't ever turn off my
anthropological or historical curiosity... I was wondering if anyone
had any advice on places to go, things to see and, in particular,
books to read beforehand. I envisage visiting California and Arizona,
so in particular I'd like to read good books on a) Native American
culture and history (in the areas I'm likely to be visiting) b)
European settlement of the western US and c) history to the present.

As far as other things go, I'm an avid bushwalker (hiker), and would
like to see a lot of national parks and climb a lot of mountains.
I like musuems and bookshops are a definite attraction. I've never
been to the US before. I don't want to go anywhere near Disneyland.

Danny Yee.

P.S. Advice on climbing mountains in East Java would also be
appreciated. (I plan to climb gunung-gunung Lawu, Liman, Arjuna,
Semeru, Argopuro and Raung.) I know a lot more about Javanese culture
than Amerindian, and possibly more about Indonesian history than
about US history, but I'm certainly happy to read more on the subject.